Topic: The Drinkwater option

[spartan2785]

I don't know if the players that go out constantly on loan really qualify for this type of distinction.  To me it sounds like a miserable life by the standards of a footballer, never having a home really, constantly trying to learn new teammates, coaches, other staff.  At least if you're on loan, you're most likely still expected to contribute to whatever club you're at, Drinkwater and guys like the 4th string goalkeeper who's at some club for purely homegrown status aren't going to be expected to actually compete or maintain a standard of form.

[Kopenhagen]

Alex Teixeira. (I suppose he just chose the money after Shakhtar rebuffed our offer.)

[Riquende]

one of his new teammates at Shanghai Port is - Oscar! From a nailed on starter for Chelsea across four seasons - winning two league titles - and keeping the in-form Coutinho out of the Brazil team, he took the money and headed to China as a 25-year old.  To be fair he wasn't the only one but he's a rarity in that he's still there seven seasons later.  Needless to say he's not added to his 48 Brazil caps but he's presumably incredibly rich without exerting too much energy.

Relevant reasonably recent article on Oscar:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jul/28/oscar-chinese-super-league-saudi-boom-era
Oscar’s Chinese purgatory offers players cautionary tale in Saudi boom era

[KissThisGuy]

There's a handful of goalies who accepted offers to be number 2 or 3 at clubs simply due to their nationality. Scott Carson comes to mind.

The number 3 keeper is the dream job.

[vladis voice]

Agree about the ageing reserve keeper gig, although to be fair I’ve always seen that as a kind off natural justice as even top keepers never seem to command the kind of wages that middling outfield players do so that long career tail feels like karma.

Rodwell best shout for me so far for pure mercenary refusal to move on, there’s a few ex evertonians that spring to mind though - Jeffers went to Arsenal and barely played throughout his years on the books there, Barkley at Chelsea (+ random loans) etc.